Maynard schools strive to be ‘inclusive and caring’ to transgender community

Friday

Mar 3, 2017 at 1:08 PMMar 23, 2017 at 4:04 PM

THE ISSUE: President Donald Trump rescinded guidelines that allow transgender students to use the bathroom matching their chosen identity, saing states and public schools should have the authority to make those decisions. THE IMPACT: Massachusetts already has a law that protects transgender student rights and that law has been adhered to in Maynard even before the state law took effect.

Despite opposition from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, on Feb. 22, President Donald Trump reversed guidelines, implemented by former President Barack Obama, allowing transgender students to use the bathroom matching their chosen gender identity.

Arguing states and public schools should have the authority to make their own decisions, without federal interference, Trump rescinded those guidelines.

While the order rolls back protections for transgender students, it includes language instructing schools to protect transgender students from bullying, a provision DeVos reportedly asked for.

But what does that decision mean for Massachusetts schools?

In July 2016, Gov. Charlie Baker signed the so-called bathroom law, expanding on a 2011 state law prohibiting discrimination against transgender people in the workplace and housing. It expands that law to include public accommodations, such as restrooms and locker rooms. The law took effect in October 2016.

Maynard Superintendent Robert Gerardi said Maynard had been providing these rights to a transgender student for about six months before the law took effect.

“Even if we did not have the support of the Massachusetts law and guidance, I believe that we would still protect these basic rights as part of our desire as a school community to be inclusive and caring to every member in our community,” he said.

In fact, he said, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education used Maynard’s experience when writing the guidelines.

Gerardi said several students in the Maynard schools have chosen to use the bathroom they identify with. The school does not have unisex bathrooms for students, although they do have unisex facilities for adults, so if a transgender student feels uncomfortable using the public bathrooms, the schools make other options available.

“In several circumstances we made an office, teachers or guidance unisex bathroom available to the students requesting a private bathroom,” Gerardi said.

The schools have hosted information sessions for students and parents, to explain that Maynard is an inclusive community and transgender students should have equal rights.

They have also discussed the issue at School Site Council at Maynard High School and at professional development sessions for staff at Green Meadow and Fowler schools, where a state consultant brought transgender high school students from other communities to share their elementary school experience.

“In addition, at Fowler we got presenters from PFLAG to support the understanding and learning for the staff around the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity,” Gerardi said.

At Green Meadow, they talked to students in specific classes with transgender students, about being accepting and respectful of all people, making sure to notify parents ahead of time.

Task force to protect transgender community

On the day he called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign, U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III — an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s policies on transgender rights — was introduced as the new leader of a Congressional task force devoted to protecting the transgender community.

“The basic goal of the task force is to ensure America continues to try to make good on its promise of equal protection under the law and equality for everyone,” the Brookline Democrat said in a phone interview Thursday. “In 2017, the transgender community faces various forms of discrimination across the country.”

The Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus on Thursday announced Kennedy as the new chairman of its bipartisan Transgender Equality Task Force.

Kennedy’s appointment as chairman of the task force comes a week after Sessions and President Donald Trump’s administration rescinded Obama-era protections that allowed transgender public school students to use the restrooms and facilities that corresponded with their gender identity.

“As President Trump has clearly stated, he believes policy regarding transgender bathrooms should be decided at the state level,” the White House said in a statement.

Since his election in 2012, Kennedy has been an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage and transgender protections. Last year, he testified at the Massachusetts Statehouse in support of the state’s transgender non-discrimination bill, which was signed into law last July.

The task force, Kennedy said, will focus on restoring the recently rescinded policy on transgender public school students, advocating for equal health care access and addressing violence against transgender Americans. The efforts will be based in both advocacy and legislation, he said.

Kennedy vehemently opposed the Trump administration’s move to withdraw the federal guidance for transgender students in public schools.

“I was disheartened and so, so not surprised that was one of the first actions of the attorney general and this administration,” Kennedy said. “It shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the challenges many students of the transgender community face. How exactly is a child supposed to learn when they’re terrified, being bullied and feel school isn’t a safe place to learn and study?”

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